Lost surplus is definitely a loss—it’s not linear with utility, but it’s not uncorrelated. Also, if supply is elastic over any relevant timeframe, there’s an additional source of loss. And I’d argue that for most goods, over timeframes smaller than most price-fixing proposals are expected to last, there is significant price elasticity.
Ah, I took the “just” in “just a lower bound on lost surplus” as an indicator that it’s less important than other factors. And I lightly believe (meaning: for the cases I find most available, I believe it, but I don’t know how general it is) that the supply elasticity _is_ the more important effect of such distortions.
So I wanted to reinforce that I wasn’t ignoring that cost, only pointing out a greater cost.
Lost surplus is definitely a loss—it’s not linear with utility, but it’s not uncorrelated. Also, if supply is elastic over any relevant timeframe, there’s an additional source of loss. And I’d argue that for most goods, over timeframes smaller than most price-fixing proposals are expected to last, there is significant price elasticity.
I don’t think I was disagreeing?
Ah, I took the “just” in “just a lower bound on lost surplus” as an indicator that it’s less important than other factors. And I lightly believe (meaning: for the cases I find most available, I believe it, but I don’t know how general it is) that the supply elasticity _is_ the more important effect of such distortions.
So I wanted to reinforce that I wasn’t ignoring that cost, only pointing out a greater cost.